


such a beautiful dream

by kissmeinnewyork



Series: our choice [3]
Category: Bodyguard (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Romance, THEY DESERVE IT, baths, im giving them their happy ending, julia lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-14 01:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16030322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissmeinnewyork/pseuds/kissmeinnewyork
Summary: It's not a surprise when the tabloids find out about the Home Secretary and her ex-bodyguard lover. (david, julia and kisses in the bath.)





	such a beautiful dream

**Author's Note:**

> i thought u deserved some fluff. honestly this is all it is. kudos and comments appreciated xx

The first time David sees their faces in a tabloid is hardly a surprise, but that doesn’t stop it being really fucking _surreal._ All he wants is a sandwich but instead he’s confronted with a photograph of him kissing the Home Secretary, like he’s some sort of celebrity, and he ends up leaving the tuna mayo and picking up a copy of _The Sun_ instead.

Suffice to say, the article is absolute trash. There’s a cheap Whitney Houston gag and some naff quotes from shady sources—anyone sane would throw it straight in the bin, but he’s well versed with the British public and how stupid they are. It doesn’t matter that he isn’t her PPO anymore and that they can do what they like with no professional repercussions, not like before. This is the kind of thing that topples faultless reputations. People don’t like their politicians to have _feelings._

(He thinks that maybe after the bomb the press _could_ give her a break, because the mindless drone reporters at _The Sun_ headquarters do not see the Julia Montague he does. She’s not this impenetrable fortress of a woman, not really. It’s the vibe she gives off but it’s not who she _is._ )

 He takes a deep breath of London air before throwing the offending item promptly into a nearby recycling bin. He’s seen Julia in newspapers before, usually for her politics and not her romantic life; she graces headlines with purpose and intent, determined to use the media for the good of her various campaigns. After the bomb they reported her recovery and her steps to pick up the pieces. Now—well, now they’ve moved onto pulling her apart again for having a life outside her career. He might have thought that once, a lifetime ago. But he’s not the same man he was then.

David absently wonders how long it will be before a journalist shows up at his door in an attempt to concoct another wildly inaccurate story about their Passionate Love Affair. Yeah—surreal is definitely one word for it.

-x-

“I’ve become a wet dream for every news outlet there is.”

David almost laughs, but Julia’s stern expression firmly deters him from it. He stands aside and lets her in, reassured when he hears the low hum of her car driving off into the night. It’s then that he kisses her, hands still clutched round the door frame. He eases it shut with his shoulder, hears the lock click.

“Bad day, then?” he murmurs against her lips. Julia smiles, kissing him back.

“Simply terrible,” she replies, “I’ve been tossed between meetings and my PR team hate me more than they already did. All because of _you_.”

“I must be a right pain in your arse.”

“Yes you are, and you need to stop kissing me in public. Unless you enjoy _The Daily Mail_ photo-shopping your face onto cartoon animals.”

“I think you’ll find that _you_ kissed _me._ ”

Julia smirks, easing out of his embrace. She smells like the perfume he bought her not that long ago, floral and deliciously decadent. The thought of smelling it on his bedsheets later almost sends him into a frenzy. “Semantics, semantics.”

She takes off her coat and hangs it on a hook near the door—little signs that his flat is becoming _their_ flat, just as much as her huge London apartment and its draws filled with his shirts and his toothbrush by the sink. They’ve both become so _domestic,_ and it’s more than a little insane. Going from fucking in secret to practically moving in together wasn’t a step he anticipated all those months ago, but nothing about being Julia Montague’s vicinity is predictable. He’s got literal scars to prove it.

“So what happens with the tabloid crisis?” David asks, following Julia into the kitchen. It’s his own house yet she’s the one guiding him, which actually explains quite a lot. Not that he minds. He’s kind of just grateful she’s actually alive to boss him around. “Can they actually do anything?”

Julia scrunches up her nose, dropping her bags onto the kitchen table. “Not really. Believe it or not, I’m allowed to have a love life. And you’re not linked to me professionally anymore so it’s hardly a scandal. I’m just surprised they didn’t catch on sooner.”

“You won’t be resigning any time soon then?”

“Nope,” Julia says, jumping on a barstool and raising an eyebrow. “Is this a discreet ploy to cut my working hours?”

David half-laughs, leaning against the kitchen cabinet. Julia tilts her head thoughtfully. “Are you telling me you’d rather spend your days being hounded by Roger Penhaligon than here?”

“Oh, absolutely. Having my ex-husband breathing down my neck constantly is a fucking delight.” She beckons him closer, opening out her palms. David let’s her fingers close around his, squeezing them gently. “This will all blow over, David, I promise. What’s news one day is lining cat litter trays the next.”

“I’m not concerned about what they say about me,” David says, honestly, “You don’t deserve it. After everything. To be…scrutinised, for who you’re seen out in public with.”

Julia smiles sadly, but it’s a smile of resignation. She examines the skin of his hand before bringing it to her lips, kissing the knuckles gently. “I learnt a long time ago that everything I do is everyone else’s business. I’ve been one half of a political power couple, as it were, and the press were one of the reasons we began to fall apart. I’m not going to let that happen to us. And that means you can’t, either.”

Her eyes look up at him earnestly, and it’s the kind of look that forces him to remember why he cares about her, why he’s here. He doesn’t always agree with her policies. But that’s okay. He doesn’t have to. He’s here to love her, not vote for her. So he nods wordlessly. It seems like a good enough compromise for now.

Julia breathes out heavily, like she’s letting a weight off her shoulders. “God, it’s been a long day. I want a bath.” She coyly rests a hand underneath her chin, elbow propped on the table. “Do you want a bath?”

“I mean,” David shrugs in mock nonchalance, “I could be persuaded.”

“It’s fortunate that persuasion is one of my strong suites.”

(Said persuasion entails her stripping off her clothes slowly yet effortlessly, dropping her trousers and her shirt in the hallway like a trail of breadcrumbs until she’s stood solely in her expensive underwear. The rushing of the water hitting against the bottom of the bathtub masks her groans as he fucks her against the radiator because she’s right when she says persuasion is her strong suite. Ah, well. It’s one of the more uncomfortable places they’ve shagged, but it’s pretty damn sexy anyway.)

-x-

The water is so hot it steams the bathroom mirror but that’s Julia’s way, so he eases into the scorching hot bubbles and watches as his skin turns mottled and red. He’d always been the in-and-out-shower kind of person before, even when he was Vicky. Vicky was light and efficient. Julia is decadent.

He watches as Julia lies opposite him, head resting on the side of the bath, eyelids fluttering closed. The air smells like lavender. His bathroom shelves are crammed with the shampoo and bubble bath she likes—lavender is becoming an increasingly popular scent in his home.

(Sometimes his eyes hover around the scar splitting through her stomach—a product of the bomb that almost killed her. The haunting and terrible days that followed. How it’s a miracle she’s still alive, really, but Julia would argue with death itself if she could. The scar is fading now, from angry red to silvery white. A polaroid of the tragedy that could have been.)

For a moment, she vanishes, her body disappearing under the bubbles. She rises like a mythical being seconds later, her hair hanging in damp tendrils round her face. She blinks away the water, her face now a blank canvas. Maybe she is an oil painting, one of those from the renaissance, brimming with unrealistically perfect women from eras past. It’s not totally unbelievable.

“What are you looking at, David?” she asks bemusedly, running her body over with a sponge.

“At you,” he replies simply.

Julia pauses, dropping the sponge in the water. She allows his strong arms to pull her closer, hands touching her naked flesh. He brushes a strand of hair away from her face. Kisses her softly, like they’ve got all the time in the world. They don’t, but they do tonight, they do now. He’s learnt to make the most of the minutes you have—it can take a heartbeat for everything to fuck up.

“ _The Daily Mail_ can get fucked,” David mutters, and Julia laughs, hands curling round the back of his neck. “Honestly. _The Sun_ too.”

“Don’t forget _The Express._ They did a very interesting feature on our age gap. Could probably sue them for both sexism _and_ ageism.”

“Okay, yeah. _The Express_ too.” He presses a light kiss on her nose. “Don’t even get me started on Twitter.”

Julia grins, leaning in closer, staring prominently at his mouth. “Go on. What would you do to Twitter?”

David knows her game all too well. It starts with a kiss on her jawline, trailing down her neck to her chest, damp with steam. “Oh, I’d fuck them up big time.”

“The whole of Twitter? My, that is ambitious.”

“What can I say,” David answers, rising for air, “You’re rubbing off on me, Home Secretary.”

She laughs again, fingers tangling in the hair on the back of his neck. “I’d like to think I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> im thinking of writing some more fluffy established-relationship oneshots so let me know if that's something ur interested in many thanks


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